Water Metering FAQ

Water Metering FAQ

Water metering is one of the primary recommendations of the 2015 Water Master Plan to address water supply and consumption concerns in preparation for future growth. In considering water meter implementation, the District assessed:

Customer equity – installation of meters will allow the District to work towards this by billing the community’s largest industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) water users for actual water consumption;

Water conservation – water meters paired with a new water rate structure will support the sustainability of the District’s water source, deferred capital upgrades, reduced load on wastewater facilities, and energy savings;

Water system management – water meters will allow the District to identify leakage areas, high consumption users, and assist with system planning through accurate water measurement and performance monitoring.

Single-family homes account for 90 percent of water service connections in Squamish (representing an estimated 60 percent of total water consumption), making the cost of universal metering (i.e., metering all properties) significantly higher than for other options. Universal metering would require more than 4,100 meters to be installed at an estimated cost of $9.5 million. The return on this investment is not expected to deliver the necessary savings to the District through deferred capital costs ($2-3 million) to warrant the expenditure.

Covering the cost of a universal metering program would likely mean significant rate increases to properties through Utilities fees – in the range of a 20 percent increase over five years.

The Water Master Plan recommended implementation of universal metering as a long-term goal for the District. The District will re-evaluate universal metering in the future.

The District has completed the first phase of water meter installation, with detailed design and installation of 50 meters completed primarily through provincial and federal grant funding. This number is less than the 160 meters originally anticipated to be installed, which was a preliminary estimate assuming all of the meters to be installed were going to be small, inexpensive meters. However, during the project planning phase, it was decided to meter a number of properties with larger diameter water services in this initial phase. As these larger meters are more expensive and often require costly concrete chambers, the number of meters installed as part of the first phase of work was less than originally anticipated.

Pending budget approval, additional meter installations are planned for 2019 and subsequent years.

The intent was to focus on the largest water users as well as the areas of town with a high concentration of ICI properties. In addition, opportunistic installations will be undertaken in instances where water meter installation can be completed in conjunction with other construction activities.

All newly constructed multi-family buildings in Squamish are required to install water meters. Adding existing multi-family buildings to the ICI implementation was not a significant cost difference, and so they are being included in the metering program to achieve equity with the newly constructed multi-family buildings.

While a perfect scenario would be to implement metering for everyone including single-family homes, it is too cost-prohibitive to do so as single-family homes account for 90 percent of all meters, and would require 4,100 meters to be installed.

Although ICI and multifamily properties together account for only 10 percent of service connections (and therefore meters), this combined group represents an estimated 40 percent of total water consumption.

Multi-family properties will receive one meter per building. A building will share one meter, regardless of whether there are two units within the building, or 22 units. The following is a list of considerations the District has taken into account in choosing this approach:

The water system within the strata is owned and maintained by the strata.

Common water use (irrigation systems, common laundry, etc.) within the strata, which would require separate meters.

Unaccounted water use such as leakage of pipes and unauthorized water use such as connections made after meter installation are beyond the control of the District.

Installation of water meters within an existing premise often involves removal of partitions and ceilings, which can be costly.

The District considers that water usage between different units within a strata is more uniform than between single-family properties of different size, thus removing some of the incentive to provide a meter for each unit (i.e., family sizes may be different, but strata units typically share similar physical characteristics such as balconies or small grassy areas versus single-family homes that can vary significantly in physical characteristics).

The cost of installing one meter at the property line is often less expensive than metering each individual unit.

Access to inspect and maintain meters within individual units can be very challenging for District Public Works staff.

It is likely that the Strata would receive one bill from the District and would be required to collect the fees from the residents through Strata fees. Each Strata can decide how to apportion costs. Typically, costs are allocated based on the floor area (square footage) of each unit.

Not at this time. New single-family homes are required to install water meter boxes only, to facilitate future meter installation in the event that the District moves to universal metering in the years to come. As noted above, the Water Master Plan recommended implementation of universal metering as a long-term goal for the District. The District will re-evaluate universal metering in the future.

Prior to implementing metered billing, there will be a period of time during which data collected from installed meters will be collected and analyzed. A water rate structure analysis will be completed and will include a comparison to existing flat rates in order to ensure that future billing will be fair and consistent across all property types. Public engagement opportunities will be provided during the water rate re-structuring to gather public input into the process. A period of ‘shadow billing’ will also take place allowing customers to see what their new fees will be under the new structure, and provide an opportunity to adjust water consumption prior to the new rate structure being implemented.

There is no direct cost to the ICI or multi-family property for the installation. The Water Utility will help cover the installation costs, which is funded by all water customers in Squamish through annual Water Utility rates.

ISL Engineering Services was retained to work on behalf of the District to liaise with properties selected for the first phase of water meter installations. The District will be issuing a Request for Proposals in early 2019 for consulting services for the next phase of project.

Public input opportunities will be identified at the onset of the water rate structure analysis phase (anticipated in 2020), and will be widely communicated through the District’s communications channels. Stay in touch with the District through our social media channels, website, email newsletter or newspaper advertisements. Visit Squamish.ca/engage for links.

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Darlene AndersonDec 01, 2018

Hi
I am hoping that even though it is multi family buildings that are receiving water metering and will eventually be billed for water use that ALL users (residential and industrial) will be billed for water. It would be grossly unfair to bill residents in multi family buildings for water and not those in single family homes. I know you can't meter water use in single family homes, but through the metering of water in multifamily buildings you could get an idea of the average water use per family; and bill accordingly.

I clean in both multifamily and single family homes. The only high flush toilets (13L per flush) I run into are those in single family homes - the older ones. And very few of these have replaced their toilets for lower water use toilets. (even though they could afford to). The stats I have are: 14 single family; 5 of which have high water use toilets; the rest are new enough they never had them in the first place. I believe that two probably had them replaced after construction. And 7 multi family homes; none of which are high use toilets.

You need to bill EVERYONE for water at the same time - not just those that you can meter the water use.
Thank you.

Hello Darlene, thank you for your comments. ALL residences in Squamish will continue to be billed for water use. The difference is that single family homes will continue to be billed an annual flat fee (this was $424 in 2018), versus multifamily buildings that will be billed based on usage. Hope this helps to clarify.

SimonNov 13, 2018

BTW your link above to "Squamish.ca/engage" (https://quamish.ca/engage) on the https://squamish.ca/our-services/water-and-waste-water/water-metering-faq/#moderated, "conveniently" does not work!
Coincidence or engineered to avoid feedback?

Hello Simon - the link to the squamish.ca/engage has been fixed. Thank you for letting us know it was not working.

SimonNov 13, 2018

By metering townhouse complexes, using one meter per complex, not per household does not, in any way address Customer Equity which you claim is one of the aims of this process. It simply continues the previous inequity of not metering the largest, individual, household water user, namely single family dwelling by not metering at all.
The DOS should either meter all or none, or at least start with the largest users of water, as a group - single family households.